Editorial Ethiomedia Editorial | March 24, 2008 http://www.ethiomedia.com/abai/scapegoats_and_thieves.html The scenario is becoming all too familiar in Ethiopia. Whenever fraud, abuse, waste, mismanagement, incompetence, malfeasance and corruption are detected or made public, the regime corrals a few scapegoats and throws them in jail. Just recently, there was a story about gold bars that just walked out…
[Author’s Note: This post first appeared in Ethiomedia on March 17, 2008 as an “editorial” without a byline. (Ethiomedia Editor’s Note – Ethiomedia will offer periodic editorial commentary on the role of the press, media and the vital necessity of free expression in sustaining democratic dialogue in Ethiopia.] http://www.ethiomedia.com/abai/all_that_glitters_is_gold.html “All that glitters is not gold,”…
For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary The White House President George W. Bush today announced his intention to nominate three individuals and appoint two individuals to serve in his Administration. The President intends to nominate Mimi Alemayehou, of the District of Columbia, to be the United States Director of the African Development Bank….
Editorial Ethiomedia | March 10, 2008 http://www.ethiomedia.com/abai/ethiomedia_031008.html A few days ago, Senator Russ Feingold, Chairman, Senate Subcommittee on Africa, gave a speech in the U.S. Senate saying the Horn of Africa is on the horns of a dilemma. He explained the Horn is “one of the roughest neighborhoods in the world” complete with a failed…
Editorial Ethiomedia | March 3, 2008 http://www.ethiomedia.com/abai/sister_cities.html Lately, news of a proposed sister cities program with Addis Ababa has been buzzing in the Ethiopian community in Oakland, California. This program, backed by the top diplomatic representatives of the Meles regime in the U.S., apparently upstaged another similar private effort from Oakland with the city of…
“Charity begins at home,” goes the old saying. But with the Zenawi regime, it is, “No good deed will go unpunished.” The so-called “Charities and Societies Draft Proclamation No. 00/2007” [hereinafter “Proclamation”] currently under review by the Ethiopian “parliament” is one mean-spirited and uncharitable edict masquerading as a legislative measure. It is an understatement to…
Editorial Ethiomedia | February 19, 2008 http://www.ethiomedia.com/abai/the_ethiopianization_of_kenya.html Mr. Kofi Annan tried to resolve the crisis (AFP) A few days ago the New York Times reported that Kenya is in the “throes of ethnic segregation.” Following the highly disputed presidential elections there, hundreds of thousands of people have been internally displaced, resulting in a massive flight…
Originally appeared: Ethiomedia Editorial | February 10, 2008 http://www.ethiomedia.com/access/why_editorial.html Human rights activists Daniel Bekele and Netsanet Demissie – Years in prison “Justice delayed is justice denied.” Faking justice is warping justice. After languishing in prison for two years and a kangaroo trial, on December 26, 2007, Daniel Bekele and Netsanet Demessie were found “guilty”. Nobody…
Alemayehu G. Mariam February 4, 2008 Academic Unfreedom in Ethiopian UniversitiesUniversities in democratic societies crank out legions of technorati, digerati and literati every year. But what do universities in police states produce? Hordes of ignorati? Welcome to higher education in the Land of Absurd-istan! In an incisive article posted on the web-based legal research service,…
Originally appeared in Ethiomedia Editorial | January 28, 2008 http://www.ethiomedia.com/access/honor_among_thieves.html Mwai KibakiMeles Zenawi There may be no honor among ordinary thieves, but it seems there is honor among those who steal elections. In a recent interview in the Guardian newspaper, Meles Zenawi defended the honor of his soulmate and co-religionist at the altar of election…
